The former Prime Minister defended his own record and that of his Minister of the Economy, saying he had taken “strong decisions” to contain the slide in the public deficit.
“I find the media trial quite scandalous. [et] political” made to Bruno Le Maire over deficit slippage. Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal defended his Minister of the Economy at a Senate hearing on Friday, November 8, as part of an information mission on the drift of public accounts. In particular, he praised the“obsession with reducing France’s debt”. which he believes Bruno Le Maire demonstrated during his years at the head of Bercy.
Interviewed the day beforethe former Minister of the Economy had denied on Thursday any “fault” or “concealment” in the face of the significant deterioration in France’s public finances, and asserted that the current government could have limited it to 5.5% for 2024 (instead of 6.1%).) by taking the measures he left on the table when he left office. The expected public deficit is a far cry from the 4.4% of GDP forecast in autumn 2023 and the 5.1% forecast in the spring after reassessment by the previous executive. It would only fall below the 3% of GDP authorized by the EU in 2029, making France a bad pupil in Europe.
“We have taken strong decisions”
Like Bruno Le Maire, Gabriel Attal praised the “strong decisions” taken when he was at Matignon to curb the budget slippage. “We’ve had alerts [sur la dégradation des finances publiques de la France, NDLR] and we took, I believe, strong decisions,” asserted the former head of government. We revised the growth forecast, we raised the deficit target, we decided to make 20 billion euros in savings during the year and we prepared a State budget with 15 billion euros in savings.”
“I don’t believe that in the past, over such a short period of time, a government has identified and dared to make so many savings.”he said, adding that he had “a high awareness of the strain on our public finances”. when he was on rue de Varenne.
Élisabeth Borne to be heard on November 15
This slippage in the deficit raised questions about the reliability of the forecasts made by the previous Macronist majority. The Senate, whose right-of-center majority had been in opposition until Michel Barnier’s appointment to Matignon, had been very vocal in recent years against Bercy and Bruno Le Maire, who was regularly accused of “mismanagement”. of “insincerity”. and “opacity vis-à-vis Parliament.
The Senate is also due to hear from Gabriel Attal’s predecessor, Elisabeth Borne, on November 15. Starting next week, the upper house will examine the draft 2025 budget and the “60 billion in savings.